This invention relates to tufting machines and more particularly to a lint removal system for cleaning fibers, filaments and the like from the gauge parts, i.e., the hooks and knives, in a tufting machine.
During the operation of a tufting machine loops of yarn presented by a multiplicity of needles are seized by respective loopers or hooks and, in machines for producing cut pile fabrics, are cut by a respective knife coacting with each hook. In cut/loop tufting machines, i.e., those producing selective tufts of loop pile and cut pile, the knives act to cut selective loops. After a period of operation, and particularly where substantial amounts of cutting has occurred, loose filaments of yarn, strands of the cut yarn ends, and lint, hereafter cumulatively referred to as lint, accumulate and build up on the hook and knife gauge part. This is especially a problem when tufting spun yarns which have tiny spun filaments. Moreover, the problem is particularly significant in fine gauge machines because the lint sticks in the close space between the gauge parts and does not readily dislodge. When a significant amount of this lint accumulates on the hooks and knives, the cutting action of these elements becomes effected and cutting efficiency decreases. This eventually results in the cutting surfaces becoming dull and requiring frequent sharpening.
Consequently, it is conventional to direct air onto the hooks and knives to dislodge the lint. Known air blowing systems for these purposes provide a pipe extending the length of the machine beneath the bed. Because of the long length of a run of pipe, generally the pipe is divided into separate sections with each section supplying air to a section of gauge parts mounted in the machine. A four meter machine may have approximately ten such sections, while a five meter machine may have approximately 12 such sections. Moreover, because of the inconvenience of supplying air to the machine intermediate its length, the air is generally supplied to the machine at one end and distributed from a manifold mounted thereon. Distribution of the air to the various sections has been accomplished by using separate valves which are sequenced to supply air under full supply pressure to each section, the supply lines from the valves communicating with the respective separate sections of pipe. Thus, full supply pressure air enters a supply manifold and is directed by the appropriate valve to the respective pipe section.
Because of the length of the machine, the air fed to the sections at or adjacent the end of the machine remote from the end on which the manifold and valves are mounted must travel a relatively long distance thereby resulting in substantial pressure drop in the air supplied to these sections. Consequently, the force of the air blowing at the gauge parts remote from the manifold mounting end of the machine has been less than that desired to fully clean the lint from those gauge parts, and lint build-up on these parts may result in variations in the aesthetics of the tufts across the length of a produced fabric, and require excessive replacement of gauge parts at the remote end of the machine.